All Quiet on The Kanto Front
by EddardStark97
Summary: As Harrison Reeder attempts to fight a losing war, alone, in foreign territory, he must come to terms with the fact that he might not be on the winning side, and that his ideals may not be the correct ones.


**A/N: So, this is TheSpanishInquisition97 on a new account, for the sole reason that I forgot my password. Anywho, this is a supposed prologue to the games, which would make this chapter a prologue to a prologue. Woah. Anyway, enjoy, this theory isn't mine, I found it somewhere on teh interwebs. Hurrah**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, or this fan theory. I assume it was produced in the dark bowels of the Internet where one as innocent as I would never dare to venture._

**Prologue **

"Damnit, I won't take him, no matter who his father was. He's a mute, now, of what use would he be to me? I need soldiers, not cripples. Do you understand me, Captain?" The bushy browed general narrowed his eyes, as if daring Captain Burke to question him.

"Yessir." Burke didn't need any trouble, especially at a time such as this. The Seventh Division of the Kantonese Army was on high alert, due to the series of attacks by Johto guerillas that had recently plagued the invasion force.

"That's what I like to hear, Burke. Now get back to your post, we never know when those goddamn insurgents." He saluted and turned around, squinting at the maps surrounding him.

Burke saluted back, and marched out of the tent, back straight and head help up high. When he got out of the tent, however, he relaxed, slumped him shoulders and crammed his hands into his pockets. There hadn't been much action in the past couple of weeks, at least not for the Seventh. They were stationed in Ilex Forest, waiting for the orders from above to begin the siege of Goldenrod City, the last city in Johto to resist Kanto's military advances.

In his pocket were the minimized balls, containing Burke's standard-issue Pokémon. He had his three with him at all times, the pidgey, arcanine and abra. The pidgey was to scout, with training that made one come back to the owner at all costs, and warn him or her of the danger ahead. The arcanine was the standard infantry 'mon, used for battle from medium and close range. The abra was for emergency situations that required an emergency transport. With these three 'mons, a soldier would be able to survive most any conflict, if he was smart.

He walked back to his tent, exchanging snippets of conversation with the soldiers milling about the camp. The fortifications were rudimentary, mainly consisting of sharpened stakes, ringing the perimeter of the camp. The true might of Kanto's military did not lie in their advanced technology, however. That lay in the far-off regions of Unova and Sinnoh. Here in Kanto and Johto, however, the power of the Pokémon is what led the nations. Pokémon did everything for people, menial tasks, providing manpower, and defending the borders of our respective countries. Soon, he reached the other side of camp, where his tent was located on an outcrop of rock, overlooking the city of Goldenrod. Goldenrod was mobilizing for war, with soldiers patrolling the walls of the city, and pidgey scouts circling above the routes into the city. Already, the Kanto soldiers had been forced to take out pigdeys that had wandered too close to their camp. He positioned his arcanine on the outcrop of rock, patted his head and ducked inside the canvas tent, pushing aside a flap of cloth.

The tent was sparse, consisting of a bedroll, a book, an oil lamp, a journal and a pen, and a man in the corner. There was nothing impressive about anything, save the man. The man was very tall, almost six and a half feet, and well built. He had dark brown hair shaved close to his head, and brown eyes. He saw Burke and opened his mouth to say hello. When no sound came out, he made a rasping sound, one that Burke had come to recognize as his laugh. He still forgot sometimes that he had lost his own tongue, the poor guy. After his injury, he was facing discharge from the service, the service that had provided him a life after his terrible childhood. The service was his life, and now they had turned their back on him.

They sat, Burke chatting to him for hours, as the sun dropped lower and lower into the horizon, and until the evening stars began to appear. Burke talked about his wife and son back home, his house in the suburban town of Pallet. He was fighting to protect them, to destroy these rebels in Johto who threatened the safety of the Kantonese Empire. Ever since the new regime, headed by a mysterious man, who was rumored to have commissioned the creation of Pokémon, fifty years prior. By now, Pokémon had settled into the niche that the people of the world had happily provided them, the cute, lovable, strong, hardworking and loyal creatures that offered their friendship to the people of the world. But with these new changes to the world came new ideas, spurred by the people of the Kantonese-controlled land of Johto. They began to question the fact that they were subject to Kantonese rule, and began to slowly build up an uprising, stoking the embers of a fire that would soon engulf the entire civilized world. Hoenn soon followed suit, along with Sinnoh, and word was that Unova would follow suit. The great Kantonese Empire was crumbling, and it was up to her armies to restore the peace.

On September 20th, 2112, four armies were deployed from Saffron City, Kanto. They were part of the first, who trekked across Mt. Silver and reached Victory Road by October. The men were tired, but knew they were fighting for the just cause. They encountered heavy resistance along the road, members of the new trainer class who now occupied a unique niche in the social hierarchy. This new social class had been created after the engineering of Pokémon, and believed that there was more to Pokémon than manual labor and household pets. They traveled around the regions, battling each other, and forming leagues. There was even talk of making it a formal challenge, with institutions called "gyms" where trainers would battle for gold and glory. It all seemed absurd to Burke, but perhaps it was his age, as he told his companion. They had been raised to see Pokémon as tools, not equals, and had been more cautious around them, remnants of a distrustful age. But this new generation of young people, who saw them as friends and companions, would change the very way that they were viewed in society. Whether this was good or bad, Burke could not say. They encountered many such "trainers" on their campaign south, overwhelming them with numbers and superior discipline. But some trainers were of a different breed, stronger and wilier. These ones were captured, their Pokémon taken captive and held until they either joined the Kantonese… or else.

As the Kantonese swept southwards, deeper into Johto territory, they met organized resistance. This was a shock, as many of these rebels were Kantonese soldiers who had been stationed in Johto. They didn't have the numbers to defeat the Kantonese, but they slowed the advance enough to allow the majority of the population to escape to Sinnoh, or islands off the coast of Johto. The last battle, however, had taken a toll on the entire army.

The Great Kantonese Army was comprised of ten divisions, of which Burke's was the seventh. The Army split into five divisions of two and went their separate ways, attempting to conquer the lands around the capital of Johto, Goldenrod, before converging on the city to complete the victory. But this is where the trouble began for the Six and Seventh divisions.

The two divisions prepared for an assault of Violet City, a small city that defended a key route to Goldenrod. They descended on the city at night, expecting an easy victory, but didn't anticipate the city to be completely evacuated, and filled with soldiers.

"It was hell, man, hell," Burke said to his companion. He had been there as well, but was wounded early on in the battle.

"We started to climb the walls, when there was this… this flash. That's when you fell; you had been about three feet from the top. You bit off your tongue when you hit the ground…" he shuddered at the thought.

"That's when it all started going to hell. The Johto soldiers had these bears, they tore apart Johnson. They just picked him up and… Oh God, what am I going to tell his wife?" Burke broke off, sobbing. His friend put an arm around him, trying to get him to stop talking about it, but Burke shook him off.

"We took the city. We took the damn city, but at what cost? The entire sixth division was wiped out. We haven't heard from the rest of the army, guerillas are attacking our camps more often now, and in greater numbers. The general is blind to it all! How can he not see that we're being torn to pieces? We're spread too thin! It's only a matter of time before the rebels hit us, and then we'll be gone as well. And- Oh! Oh! I completely forgot to tell you." He stopped, scared of what would happen if he proceeded.

"The general… the general says he doesn't want you campaigning anymore. He says that you'd be a hindrance. I'm so, so sorry Harrison. I know how much this means to you."

Harrison gave him a look, and began to draw our on the first floor with the stick his words. Harrison had dropped out of school to join the military, and thus had never learned to read or write. Recently he had grasped some rudimentary idea of how to communicate without his mouth, but he still had trouble writing. Arduously, he scratched out "_But yur the generels secnd in comand. Cant yu do somthing?"_

Burke sighed, partly because of the helplessness of his situation, and partly because of his friend's atrocious spelling. "Look, I can't do anything. I'm only a captain; I can't override a _general's_ command. I would if I could, you know that Harrison, but I just can't. Maybe after we take Goldenrod, but for the time being, you're not allowed to fight." He knew how hard this would hit Harrison. The military had been the only life he had ever known, and now they were leaving him because of one small injury. They sat there in the growing darkness, silent, as they waited for the rest of the army to catch up. Soon, they drifted of to sleep, not knowing what was in store for them.

An arcanine's howl pierced the night, startling Burke and Harrison from their sleep. Screeches filled the air, and the growls of Pokémon as began to ruthlessly battle. Burke grabbed his pokeballs and rolled out of bed, pausing only to grab his gun, which lay next to his lamp, loaded and oiled. Harrison was right behind him, buckling on his belt, when Burke pushed him back.

"I have to go with what the general said, Harrison. You have to stay here." Burke said, a hand on Harrison's chest. "I know you can fight, but if you want the general's order to be revoked, you have to lie low. It won't take long for us to sort out these guerillas. I'm sorry."

Harrison growled and pushed past Burke, ready to fight, regardless of the general's decisions.

Burke turned, drew his gun, and placed it lightly on Harrison's back. He froze, and put his hands up slowly, turning around.

"Goddamnit Harrison, I outrank you. Stand down and get back to the tent, you dolt. You'll get hurt if you can't give orders to your 'mons."

Harrison looked at him, anger in his eyes. He turned, ready to walk out. Burke shut his eyes, lifted the gun, and struck Harrison across the back of his head. He crumpled silently to the ground. Burke dragged him to the tent and lay him on the bedroll, silent. He turned away from the tent and ran to the center of the camp.

His arcanine had left its post on the outcrop of rock and ran alongside him, Burke's pidgey flying ahead, leading them to where the battle was. Burke had his gun out as well, wary of any guerillas that might pop out from the shadows all around him.

He ran faster when he saw the flames sprouting from the main cluster of tents in the center of the circle. One moment he was running, the next he was on the floor, rolling as he reached for his gun. The arcanine at his side turned, snarling as three men with pidgeys and quilavas, the standard issue for Johto soldiers. They advanced warily, the quilava bristling at the sight of arcanine. The moment was fraught with tension.

In one smooth movement, arcanine leapt forward, bowling over on quilava and kicking aside another one. The third jumped on arcanine's back, and soon the three quilava and arcanine were rolling around, biting, scratching and shooting out flames. At the same time, Burke grabbed his gun, and came up shooting, hitting two of the soldiers in the chest. The third pulled his gun out, only to have pidgey descend on his, buffeting him with her wings, and pecking his eye. The man dropped his gun and ran out of the clearing, shrieking.

Burke got up, and began to bark orders to his arcanine, who was now being circled by three growling quilava. He busted through their ranks and rejoined Burke, snarling at the enemy 'mons. Burke drew his pistol and shot into the air, startling the quilava. They began to back down, slowly retreating before turning tail and running back. Flush with victory, arcanine rubbed his head against Burke's leg, before slinking off from the kick Burke gave him.

He began to walk to the clearing, more wary than ever now of the enemy soldiers. These weren't just civilians now, these were trained soldiers. And there had been something scarily familiar about the two men he had shot.

He reached the clearing, which was full of battling Pokémon and gunfire. He ignored both, running for the one burning tent in the middle of the clearing. The general was outside, a pistol in his hand and his kadabra by his side. He was facing down a man in gold, the commander of the army in Goldenrod. But that's not all he was. He was also General Benedict Ladron, commander of the final five divisions who had captured Blackthorn City.

The general growled, "You traitor, Ladron. What did they offer you? Money? Leadership? Tell me, so I don't have to question your dead body."

Ladron chuckled, hand on his own gun. Ladron was a good twenty years younger than General Etra, and fitter as well. "Kanto is outdated and corrupt, it's blatantly obvious. You're fighting for the wrong side, Etra. Why should Kanto be allowed to subjugate the rest of us? Had you forgotten that I'm from Blackthorn, you old fool? You really thought I'd sack the city that I was raised in? You're part of the old system, and you deserve to be taken down, just like them."

Burke drew my gun, and pointed it at Ladron. "Stand down, Ladron, or I'll shoot."

Ladron turned around, faster than Burke could have believed, firing his pistol at him, and then dropping to the floor for cover. He felt three bullets hit him, tearing into his gut as Burke crumpled to the hard ground, oblivious to the world around him. He could still hear gunfire around him, like a distant song. He heard the general collapse to the ground, and Ladron call out to his men, saying that the battle was over.

But all Burke could think about was home, his warm bed in Saffron City, his family. It didn't matter now, though. He was fading. He heard the arcanine howl in the distance, a haunting, lonely, mourning call, and wondered why the animal seemed so sad, despite all the terrible treatments that it had gone through. And so, Captain Burke breathed his last, one of many in the bloodbath that was soon to come.

But on a ridge, a few miles north, Harrison was stirring, underneath his tent.


End file.
